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In early December last year, Butchulla Land and Sea rangers participated in a training day with ReefClean partners Conservation Volunteers Australia. A marine debris clean and audit was completed at Eli Creek, a popular local fishing spot and unfortunately a dumping ground for residential waste.

The wildfires that have affected much of Australia these past months didn’t spare the Great Sandy National Park either. Both the K’gari (Fraser Island) and Cooloola sections of the park experienced wildfire events during this time, including one wildfire on the island and five wildfires within Cooloola.

Over the years, K’gari has attracted some pretty special characters. One of these, Bernie Shakeshaft, who works with at-risk teenagers in Armidale to help them on the path towards employment and further education and training, has been named this year’s Australian Local Hero in the Australian of the Year Awards.

When the Butchulla Land and Sea Ranger team expressed an interest in learning more about the water quality of K’gari’s streams and lakes, the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) had no hesitation in offering their assistance.

Rangers in the field come across a number of different curiosities like this feral cat (felis cattus) skull. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and Partnerships (QPWS&P) Ranger Wayne and Butchulla Community rangers Dwight and Tingira came across the skull on a western firebreak during recent cultural activities.

Six
FIDO volunteers (Chris Breitenbach, Larry Hohenhaus, Geoff Carwardine, Sandra
Naidoo, Navin Naidoo and Su Dawson) joined leader, Peter Shooter for the recent
Happy Valley trip from 27 October to 2 November. They also had the pleasure of the company of
Jodie Rainbow, Genevieve Rainbow, Louise Roberts and Blayde Foley from the
Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation for three days, Tuesday to Thursday.